This invention pertains generally to the field of interactive programming and more specifically to creating interactive programming including participants' interactions.
Television has traditionally been a serial process where a television program having a series of images and sounds are broadcast to a viewer in an audience with limited opportunity for the viewer to participate in the television program. The evolution to a more interactive form of television, or television where the viewer is allowed to participate, was slow given the lack of bidirectional communication channels between the viewer and the television program broadcaster. When bidirectional communication channels were created, they tended be of insufficient bandwidth for communication of complex viewer interactions with the television program.
Development of a nearly ubiquitous communications network, namely the Internet, has greatly expanded the use of interactive television. However, viewer participation has so far been limited to choosing television content, responding to advertising messages, and answering viewer questionnaires or polls. This is primarily because most interactive television programming follows a conventional television paradigm wherein the television programming is wrapped in advertisements; and the only responses needed from an audience are to watch linear pre-recorded programs and to buy advertised items or services. Little has been done to fully involve the audience in a rich participatory experience where the audience has as much control and influence over the content of an interactive program as the originator of the interactive program. This is in contrast to the expectations of some viewers who want a richer and more satisfying participatory experience within the context of an interactive program.
Some interactive television formats also have a disadvantage in that, although they may use the Internet as a bidirectional communication channel, the interactive television format is dependent upon set-top-boxes and middleware that a viewer either purchases or leases from a broadcaster such as a cable operator. While these devices may have a variety of functional features, they may require an additional expenditure that a viewer or a Multiple Systems Operator (MSO) may not want to incur, especially if the viewer already has an Internet-enabled device such as a home computer. This makes most existing interactive television programming “heavy” in the sense that specialized hardware is needed to take advantage of the interactive content embedded in an interactive programming signal. Additionally, the combination of a required set-top-box and specialized interactive television formats make interactive programming distributed over an interactive television network difficult to integrate with conventional Web content such as Web pages available from a Web site.
Therefore, a need exists for a light-weight interactive programming system allowing for rich viewer participation which is easily integrated with existing Web content. The present invention meets such need.